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Photos: Above, Helen Mirren, 63, arrives at the world premiere of her film “State of Play” in London in April. (AP photo) Below, Mirren at the beach last summer. (Photo courtesy of Daily Mail.)
PERFECT LIFE?
Aging women seeking a wrinkly role model might look no further than Helen Mirren. She almost deserves it.
The British actress, who turns 64 this weekend, was a subject of this week’s “In Your Face CHAT” featuring fellow Brit Dr. Christopher Zachary, chairman of the UCI Department of Dermatology.
Mirren is an Oscar winner who shuns Botox, letting her beauty shine through her wrinkles, and last summer’s photos of her in a bikini caused a minor sensation worldwide.
If everyone followed her example, cosmetic doctors would go out of business, since Mirren relies on common sense rather than the arts of plastic surgeons and dermatologists.
“I don’t smoke and I don’t drink too much, exercise occasionally but not ferociously, and I’ve never had any work done,” Mirren says.
Some celebrity watchers suspect Mirren has undergone a few cosmetic procedures, but Zachary is a fan who takes her at her word and doesn’t mind her lack of interest in his profession.
“What a Dame she is! How many 63-year-old ladies sport a bikini?” Zachary said, referring to her honorary status as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
If she came to him for a consultation, what would Zachary tell her?
“I would give her a mirror and ask her what she was worried about. I think she is living the perfect life.”
Yet even with that “perfect life,” she falls short in the role-model department, since a role model should be someone to gauge yourself against and model yourself after. Considered that way, Mirren had it relatively easy.
For one thing, she hasn’t put her body through the strains of pregnancy and childbirth. That made it easier for her to maintain her figure near her reported measurements of 38C-26-37 when she was in her late 40s.
Mothers shouldn’t beat up on themselves if their figures don’t match Mirren’s.
If we consider her a role model, are we implying that it’s OK to grow old as long as you look young? That seems an implication of praise for Mirren’s bikini photos, though photos of her wrinkled face make aging look appealing.
Mirren reportedly also engages in some uncommon skin-care techniques, such as putting used tea bags on her eyes to relieve puffiness.
Zachary approves of that technique. “You can improve the appearance of puffy, irritated and inflamed skin by good moisturization, and I guess tea bags are a neat way to contain the moisturization in one location.”
But he sees no value in Mirren’s reportedly use of 3Lab’s $200-a-pop “h” Serum as a skin-rejuvenation method.
“It‘s probably a very good moisturizer, but that’s all. The ‘h’ in 3Lab’s ‘h’ Serum stands for Human Growth Hormone,” Zachary said. “There’s no way in ‘h’ for hell that it gets through the top layer of the skin. The molecular weight it just too large. So if you like the product, use it. But don’t buy the ‘BS’ of the ‘h’, because it’s nonsense!”
A final drawback to considering Mirren as a role model is that her good looks overall and the gracefulness of her aging in particular must depend on good genes. They’re not something that anyone can aspire to and work toward. Rather, they could aggravate any negative self-image suffered by women with much different genes.
“I have to agree,” Zachary said. “She comes from Russian stock. Genes are all important. Caucasian skin is going to be more at risk for sun damage and early sun-related aging. Darker skin types are protected to a certain degree.”
“She is growing old gracefully,” he said. “In the U.S., we don’t respect age, unlike some cultures. And wrinkling is just a feature of aging, as well as sun damage.”
A gently edited transcript of the portion of Zachary’s “In Your Face CHAT” related to Mirren is below.
More about “In Your Face CHATs”:
Related links:
- Bikini-clad Helen Mirren is a role model, Joan Collins says
- Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford is showing his age, but rejects plastic surgery
- Local doctors disagree, but Cheryl Tiegs denies plastic surgery
- ‘Mamma Mia’ star Julie Walters thrives on menopause, no Botox
- Buddhist sex kitten Mamie Van Doren vs. the signs of aging
- Priscilla’s face divides cosmetic docs; what about you?
- The world’s most powerful Botoxed celebrities
Slide shows:
